1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to an improved method and apparatus for automatically identifying and verifying television broadcast programs.
Television broadcast programs are comprised essentially of first run or syndicated feature programs and commercials. Such broadcast programs are either performed live or prerecorded for airing at certain times for specific stations. Commercials normally consist of a 15 second to 1 minute program which is inserted at various times during the viewing day by the broadcasting station according to contracts made with the commercial owner or advertising agency. This is referred to as buying television time spots and the broadcast of the commercial in the purchased time spot is referred to as a "bought airing". Pursuant to a contract, the television station agrees to insert the commercial program in certain time periods specified in contract. From time to time, the television station then bills the buyer of the time spot for having aired the commercial.
The practice over many years has been that a statement is made by the television station under oath to the effect that the commercials were aired at the times bought and that said airing was within the terms contracted. Upon receipt of the sworn statement and the bill, those documents are compared manually, and if they match the commercial time spot is paid for.
However, not all commercials are aired properly and/or at the proper time. This occurs for many different reasons at each of the stations. Therefore, it has become a practice to audit these airings by visual observation. Such auditing is very time consuming, labor intensive and expensive so that only samplings are done for auditing purposes. Such sample auditing is normally carried out by employees of independent contractors, who record what they see on the television and return the records to their employer for collation and reporting. Sample auditing of this type is unreliable for a number of reasons including the fact that it is not always easy to identify a particular commercial or to differentiate it from similar ones.
A further characteristic of the current practice is that because auditing is not automated, there is a significant time delay in reporting and collating the audits. This delay impedes the advertiser from taking timely action to have problems corrected. Thus the advertiser may be unable to forestall repeated improper airings of a commercial.
In addition, this delay in reporting and collating delays the forwarding of the sworn statements on which payment for the advertising time depends.
While the above discussion is directed to the identification and verification of commercials, similar problems exist for other type of programing, such as syndicated programs which are distributed to broadcast stations with commercials already incorporated.
Thus, there has been a long-felt need for a quick, total verification of television broadcast programs, which would serve to upgrade the performance of the transmitting stations and confirm the program airing schedules. This need was addressed in co-pending applications Ser. Nos. 06/476,915 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,547,804 and 06/723,325 now abandoned over which the teachings of this invention form a improvement.